Recently, two analysts from ICO advisory firm Satis Grouppredicted that bitcoin prices will hit $96,000 in the next five years.

In making this forecast, Sherwin Dowlat, head of research, and Michael Hodapp, research analyst, leveraged fundamental analysis.

"Currently, the vast majority of the total cryptoasset market capitalization is held in traditional store of value markets, with offshore deposits accounting for nearly 40% of the total," they stated in the report.

Going forward, growth in this market capitalization will come "primarily from increased store of value use case penetration," the analysts claimed.

Further, they predicted that as custody solutions "come online," the "penetration" of offshore deposits will increase "dramatically."

The analysts forecasted that the broader digital currency market would enjoy robust growth, reaching a total value of $3.6 trillion in 2028, roughly 1,700% higher than its current value of approximately $200 billion on CoinMarketCap.

Analysts' Mixed Views

When surveyed, analysts offered mixed responses to the report's prediction that bitcoin prices could reach $96,000 by 2023.

Some criticized the forecast as being overly bullish, while others emphasized the difficulty of accurately forecasting what a digital currency's price will be five years from now.

"Bitcoin's price can be anywhere in 5 years, from $10,000 to $100,000," stated Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency fund of hedge funds BitBull Capital.

"An exact prediction is hard to provide because there are numerous fundamentals that are likely to change between now and 2023."

He added that:

"Digital currencies and assets are the future of transactions and value storage, and Bitcoin is leading this revolution. But this doesn't make it easy to guarantee a specific price tag five years down the road."

Yazan Barghuthi, CEO of Jibrel Network, also threw cold water on the forecast, stating that:

"I do believe BTC has a compelling use-case as a store of value, particularly in countries experiencing hyperinflation (Iran, Turkey, Venezuela), but to assume it will capture sizable market share from Private Banks in markets such as the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Germany, Netherlands, etc. over the next 5 years, is extremely optimistic."

Bullish Predictions 'Entirely Possible'

While the aforementioned analysts appeared skeptical, some market observers went on the record stating that bitcoin could very well hit $96,000 by 2023.

For example, bitcoin went from less than $1,000 per coin to more than $16,000 per coin in 2017 alone. Which is more than 16x increase in 1 year. Bitcoin is trading at $6,450 today, meaning it needs to increase 15 times in the next 5 years to reach $96,000. Assuming bitcoin survives this long and volatility keeps similar levels, it should be quite realistic to do it during the next bitcoin bull run.

Isaacs emphasized that while the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is roughly $200 billion, "the demand for money is around $200 trillion."

"If cryptocurrencies are truly solving the problems of paper and fiat currencies which I believe, we are going to see that 200 billion start to move up to 200 trillion and that gap close (that’s a 100,000% gain)."

As a result, bitcoin prices could reach $96,000 during a "during a strong bull run leading up to the Bitcoin 'Halving' in 2020," he stated.

Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash and ether.

I am a financial writer and consultant with strong knowledge of securities markets and investing concepts. I have worked for financial institutions including State Street, Moody's Analytics and Citizens Commercial Banking. An author of 500+ publications, my work has appeared...